Judo , The 1995 judo season got under way with the Paris International Tournament in February. The Japanese team led with six gold medals, while South Korea collected four, and France, Belgium, Poland, and Spain gained one each. Naoya Ogawa captured his sixth All-Japan Judo Championship on May 27 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. In the World Student Games in Fukuoka, Japan, in August, Japan dominated the competition with eight gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.

The major judo event of the year, however, was the world championships at Makuhari, Japan, September 29-October 1. No one country monopolized the medals, but South Korea, Japan, Cuba, and The Netherlands excelled. Monique van der Lee of The Netherlands took the women’s open title, and Japan’s Ryoko Tamura won in the women’s 48-kg (106-lb) event. Toshihiko Koga, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist in the 71-kg (156-lb) class, captured the men’s 78-kg (172-lb) title; David Douillet of France successfully defended his world title in the over-95-kg (209-lb) class; and Poland’s Pavel Nastula won the 95-kg category. South Korea’s Cho Min Sun and Jung Sung Sook won the women’s 66-kg (145-lb) and 61-kg (134-lb) categories, respectively, while Chun Ki Young, the 78-kg world champion in 1993 and also from South Korea, won the men’s 86-kg (189-lb) class.

World champion Tamura extended her winning streak to 77 by taking the 48-kg title at the 13th Fukuoka international women’s judo championships on December 10. Japan also won the 52-kg class when Noriko Sugawara pinned her Cuban opponent, but Jung Sun Yong of South Korea took the 56-kg title and Claudia Ziers of The Netherlands won the 66-kg class. Other winners were Noriko Anno of Japan in the over-72-kg class, Je Min Jung of South Korea in the 72-kg class, and Catherine Fleury of France in the 61-kg class. Andy Adams